2024

From December 24 through January 1, the campus community can contact 847-491-4357 (1-HELP) to access support staff on-call for urgent matters. Before contacting 1-HELP, please consider visiting the IT Service Management Portal to find the IT information, resources, and support you may need.

Northwestern students, faculty, and staff can acquire new coding skills, upgrade existing computing skill sets, and learn how to maximize data management efforts at one of Research Computing and Data Services' winter workshops. Choose from various 60- or 90-minute workshops, virtually or in person.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to enter the 2025 Love Data Week Visualization Competition to win cash prizes and the opportunity to represent Northwestern in the Big Ten contest. Research Computing and Data Services and University Libraries are hosting open office hours on January 9, 2025. Get help and feedback from data visualization and GIS experts on your entry.

The myHR system will undergo scheduled maintenance to apply a required tax update. This maintenance necessitates system downtime, meaning myHR, including Self Service and Careers, will be unavailable beginning Saturday, December 14, at 8 a.m. through approximately 6 p.m.

The CAESAR system will undergo scheduled maintenance from 8 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 7, to apply an update to ensure it is up-to-date with Oracle enhancements, patches, and fixes. The maintenance necessitates system downtime, and CAESAR will be unavailable during the maintenance window.  

Research Computing and Data Services staff support the computational and technology needs of Northwestern researchers across all disciplines through consultation, training, grant writing assistance, visualization services, and more. Read the research case studies.

Quest, including access to data on Quest, the Quest Analytics Nodes, the Genomics Compute Cluster (GCC), the Kellogg Linux Cluster (KLC), and Quest OnDemand, will be unavailable starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday, December 14, and ending at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18. This maintenance is necessary to upgrade the Quest scheduler and improve networking stability.

The NUFinancials system will undergo scheduled maintenance to apply a required platform and application update from Friday, December 6, at 5 p.m. to approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 7. The maintenance necessitates system downtime, and NUFinancials will be unavailable during the maintenance window.  

The myHR system will undergo scheduled maintenance to apply Oracle’s quarterly critical security patch and required tax update. The maintenance necessitates system downtime. myHR, including Self Service and Careers, will be unavailable on Saturday, November 23, from 8 a.m. through approximately 6 p.m.

The Donald P. Jacobs Center will be the home of Northwestern’s new hub for social sciences and global studies. Renovating and expanding the Jacobs Center into a transformative new space will require temporary overnight network and telephone outages to a limited number of buildings across the Evanston campus from late fall through early winter. Northwestern IT is coordinating with Facilities and University Police to ensure a limited impact on the community.

Northwestern IT announced today that Joe Paris has been appointed Northwestern IT’s new Associate Vice President of IT Services and Support. Joe has spent nearly 20 years at the University engaging in strategy development, operational leadership, and delivering technology services and user support to researchers, students, faculty, staff, and our many technology partners.

Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) invites instructors to apply for Generative AI 101, a new six-week professional development program co-sponsored by the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Generative AI. The program aims to increase instructors’ digital literacy in generative AI).

Northwestern IT is moving forward with a project to modernize how we connect to wireless and wired networks, enabling devices to connect more reliably while prioritizing the safety of University and user data. The project's first phase will streamline connecting to eduroam, with wired network support coming later.

Northwestern IT's Research Computing and Data Services (RCDS) team provides essential services and support for University faculty, staff, and student researchers across all disciplines. The team recently expanded its service and support offerings to empower researchers to work with complex datasets, manage research data confidently, and run efficient computational workflows.

The Northwestern Canvas Support Chatbot has been using generative AI to improve its responses for over a year; practice is indeed making progress. The chatbot is more proficient at returning responses to help answer basic questions about calendaring and Canvas functions.

Each October on campus, the leaves change color, the air gets crisp, and it's Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Northwestern IT has once again partnered with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance to provide best practices around cybersecurity. 

Northwestern instructors are critical to helping students build the skills to understand, critique, and become leaders in the future of generative AI. Over the last two years, Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies staff have engaged with instructors and students about a generative AI tool available to all students, faculty, and staff, shared ideas for the next steps for learning, and provided Northwestern resources.

Applications are now open for Northwestern instructors to join the 2024-25 Educational Technology Fellows (Ed Tech Fellows), a program that supports instructors in implementing educational innovation with technology. Annual cohorts collaborate with the Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies team to bring their pedagogical projects to life, enhancing learning experiences for students and helping instructors achieve their teaching goals.

Northwestern IT is extending its support hours for the start of the school year. The IT Service Desk staff will be available Monday through Friday from September 16 to 27 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Walk-in assistance at the Technology Support Center in the University Library will be available Monday through Friday from September 16 to October 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Saturday, August 17, Northwestern IT will patch Cognos Analytics, the University’s self-service reporting and data visualization service. This patch keeps Cognos current with the latest product and security updates and provides stability to the service. Cognos will be unavailable from 7 a.m. until approximately 3 p.m. during the scheduled maintenance. Additionally, the Research Portal and Data Management and Analytics APIs will be unavailable during the upgrade window.

On Saturday, August 17, Northwestern IT will patch Cognos Analytics, the University’s self-service reporting and data visualization service. This patch keeps Cognos current with the latest product and security updates and provides stability to the service. During the scheduled maintenance, Cognos will be unavailable from 7 a.m. until approximately 3 p.m. Additionally, the Research Portal and Data Management and Analytics APIs will be unavailable during the upgrade window.

NUFinancials will undergo required maintenance to apply a security update on August 10, beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at approximately 3:30 p.m. On the same day, work to apply Oracle’s quarterly security patch and required tax updates to myHR will begin at 8 a.m. and end at approximately 5 p.m. Both systems will be unavailable during their respective maintenance periods. Users of both systems are reminded to clear their cache after the maintenance.

A global tech outage occurred on July 19, causing some Windows-based devices to display a bug check/blue screen error. Please also be aware this issue impacted University-wide systems and servers that rely on Windows. Review the University-wide message from Northwestern IT to access recovery steps for the blue screen issue.

The International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) is pleased to unveil a fresh look for its online presence with the launch of a redesigned website. The new site includes enhanced features and improved functionality.

As part of regularly scheduled maintenance, Northwestern IT is updating the University’s wireless network authentication server with a new certificate effective 7 a.m. on Friday, July 26. The wireless system uses this server to provide secure access to the University’s network. Following this change, users will be prompted to accept the new certificate before establishing access to the eduroam wireless network.

Effective July 1, the iBuyNU system has a new look and feel (and a new URL), but the functionality is essentially the same. Read the article for more information, including the new URL, supplier updates, and training guides.

Reese Richardson, a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences in the Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, was able to attend the the World Conference on Research Integrity thanks, in large part, to an award he won from the Computation and Data Exchange (CoDEx) research symposium held in April.

Northwestern IT is pleased to share that the University now offers the Electronic Research Notebook Service (ERNS), powered by LabArchives, at no cost to all Northwestern researchers, including undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

Quest, the University's high-performance computing cluster, will undergo scheduled maintenance to refresh hardware and apply critical system upgrades starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, and ending at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 14. Globus will also be unavailable for file transfers.

On June 13, Northwestern IT is implementing several updates and enhancements across Northwestern Canvas to provide a more modern discussion interface and better support for the use of the Canvas Student app.

Commencement will be here before you know it. When your NetID expires, you can no longer access many University resources, including CAESAR and Canvas. Take the time to learn what technology you can keep before leaving campus.

On June 13, Northwestern IT is implementing several updates and enhancements across Northwestern Canvas, including a new look and feel to the discussion and announcements interface and the addition of SensusAccess, a new accessibility tool.

TEACHx 2024 took place May 15–16. It showcased over 40 sessions in multiple formats covering various topics, selected from a record 80 submissions. Over 250 participants attended workshops, panels, and interactive presentations. Attendees were invited to reflect on what the current moment in higher education is teaching us about learning and ponder beyond the now to ask what educators need for a successful path forward.

Northwestern IT’s Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) Enhancement project is underway to better protect our community of users and systems against evolving cyberattacks designed to get through existing MFA protections. The project includes turning off the options to receive SMS text message passcodes or a phone call and enabling Duo’s new Verified Push on Wednesday, July 10.

Starting on Monday, April 29, the Northwestern Online People Directory, which lists contact information for Northwestern students, faculty, and staff, will transition to NetID-authenticated use only. This change will provide the campus community with more privacy and better protection from phishing attacks and unwanted emails.

On April 11, the Northwestern IT Service Desk implemented an updated remote identity verification process for users who call in or email to reset their NetID password. These changes ensure the validation process is more accurate and aligns with industry security standards.

The campus-wide event, hosted by Northwestern Information Technology (IT) and sponsored by the Office of the Provost, showcased innovative approaches to computational and data-intensive research.

Northwestern IT is upgrading GlobalProtect, the University’s Virtual Private Network, this month. The upgrade addresses security vulnerabilities and aligns with the vendor’s upgrade window recommendations. The upgrade includes an updated interface to improve user experience.  Users can self-upgrade starting April 16, and the upgrade will be required on April 30.

At the February 2024 Extended Staff Meeting, Chris Fowler earned Northwestern IT’s highest individual staff recognition, the Employee Excellence Award, for his dedication to consistently delivering the highest standards possible of both support and leadership.

During fall 2023, Northwestern instructors and staff reduced the overall number of accessibility errors in Canvas by 27 percent. Many of the updated courses and instructors responsible for our increased accessibility can be found on the Mission: Accessible Wall of Fame

Copilot, Microsoft’s large language model chatbot, is now available to all Northwestern students, faculty, and staff. The AI-powered chatbot is integrated into the Bing search engine and designed to understand complex and natural language queries.

Northwestern IT’s Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) Enhancement initiative is underway and intended to better secure University systems and protect the identities of the community against evolving cyberattacks designed to get through existing MFA protections.

Northwestern IT, in partnership with the Office of the Provost, is pleased to announce two upcoming events showcasing the exciting research, teaching, and learning achievements of University students, postdocs, faculty, and staff.

All Northwestern researchers are invited to submit a talk to present at the Computation and Data Exchange (CoDEx) symposium on April 2. Students and postdocs are invited to submit a lightning talk, poster, or data visualization. Undergraduate and Graduate students who participate in the Poster Session or Visualization Challenge will be eligible for a chance to win the first-place prize of $3,000 towards a conference of their choice. Learn more about CoDEx and the opportunities to participate.

Join some of higher ed’s top security engineers and analysts for a paid internship this summer! The program runs June 17 through July 26 and features topics including cyber foundations training, network fundamentals, and incident response. Applications open through March 3. Space is limited. Apply today!

In the fall, Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT) surveyed students to understand better what additional features they wanted to see offered in Canvas. From that engagement, TLT customized two new features in Canvas—dark mode and adjustable fonts—with plans to add more enhancements in the coming months.

TEACHx call for proposals is now open! This annual event brings instructors, students, learning designers, and technology specialists together to make connections, begin collaborations, and learn from their peers.

The National Cybersecurity Alliance has designated January 21-27 as Data Privacy Week and a great time to review the privacy settings on your mobile apps and devices. You have a say in how your data is used! Explore the National Cybersecurity Alliance website for resources, and follow @Northwestern_IT to stay informed about how we do our part to champion data privacy throughout the year.

On Monday, January 22, Northwestern IT enabled Microsoft’s new Teams client (work or school), and users will now notice a “Try the new Teams” toggle in the upper left area of the Teams client window on both PCs and Macs. Teams web clients running in the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers will also display the toggle in enabled users’ browsers (the Firefox version is due to be released before March 31). Microsoft intends to sunset its existing client on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Registration is now open for Research Computing and Data workshops. This winter, enhance your research skills in data science, statistics and visualization, programming, and high-performance computing. Check the full workshop schedule and register now!